Box Score CLAREMORE, Okla. (Jan. 16, 2017) – Road wins are precious commodities for any basketball team, and now Oklahoma Christian has three of them in Heartland Conference play.

The Lady Eagles overcame an abysmal second quarter and used star turns by Audrey Hayes in the third quarter and Sarah Parker in the fourth quarter to hang on for a 66-58 win over Rogers State on Monday night at the Claremore Expo Center.

OC (9-10, 4-3 Heartland) had lost four of its five games since breaking for the holidays, so coach Stephanie Findley was grateful for a result to help put her team back on the winning track.

"Any road win you can get is a big plus at this point," Findley said. "We feel like we haven't been playing very good and we just wanted to try and come out and execute better. I thought we did that for three quarters. The second quarter was a blowout, but the girls fought through it, and anytime you can get a road win – it doesn't matter who it is – you're lucky to get out with a road win."

The Lady Eagles never trailed, but allowed Rogers State (5-12, 1-6) to close within one point in the third quarter. OC led 38-37 before Hayes hit two free throws at the 3:44 mark. She followed with two more at the 2:40 mark and a three-point play less than a minute later to give OC a 45-39 lead headed into the fourth quarter.

Parker, who had 18 points, took over from there, swishing three 3-pointers in a 3-minute span. The latter one pushed OC's lead to 58-47 with 5:38 left, and the Hillcats came no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Addy Clift delivered the final blow for OC, hitting her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 1:35 left to put the Lady Eagles up 64-54 and cap a 12-point performance. OC survived its 21 turnovers, in good part because the Hillcats had 23 of their own and shot 33.3 percent (22 of 66) from the field.

Parker "got hot from the 3-point line, so we called her number several times in a row," Findley said. "When Audrey got hot, we were trying to isolate her and Emma with what we felt like were mismatches … and Audrey was taking advantage of that by taking it to the goal and getting to the free-throw line."

It looked like a potential blowout early for OC, with Clift hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter and OC jumped to a 25-10 lead. But Courtney Smith answered with three of her own in the second quarter, fueling a rally by the Hillcats as OC went ice-cold from the field, going just 2-of-12. Consecutive baskets by Rachel Block in the final 46 seconds pulled Rogers State even at 31-31 at halftime.

"We got off to a really hot start," Findley said. "We had a great first quarter, and then I don't know what happened. The bottom fell out of it the second quarter. But I'm proud of the girls for hanging in there through that adverse second quarter. We just couldn't shoot. But they came out after halftime ready to execute some more and we were able to hang on."

Hayes, who scored 15 points, hit a 12-foot jumper to open the second half and Parker followed with a 3-pointer, helping keep the Hillcats at bay.

OC senior McKenzie Stanford, named earlier in the day as the Heartland Conference's player of the week, went 3-of-14 from the field but scored 12 points to raise her career total to 1,501, moving her past Jennifer Knight of St. Edward's (Texas) – who scored 1,500 points from 2002-06 – into seventh place on the league's career scoring list.

Natasha Kindred led Rogers State with 16 points while Block had 11, but that duo combined for 13 turnovers.

OC will return to action on Saturday, hosting defending NCAA Division II champion Lubbock Christian (Texas) at 1 p.m.


CLAREMORE, Okla. (Jan. 16, 2017) – Road wins are precious commodities for any basketball team, and now Oklahoma Christian has three of them in Heartland Conference play.

The Lady Eagles overcame an abysmal second quarter and used star turns by Audrey Hayes in the third quarter and Sarah Parker in the fourth quarter to hang on for a 66-58 win over Rogers State on Monday night at the Claremore Expo Center.

OC (9-10, 4-3 Heartland) had lost four of its five games since breaking for the holidays, so coach Stephanie Findley was grateful for a result to help put her team back on the winning track.

"Any road win you can get is a big plus at this point," Findley said. "We feel like we haven't been playing very good and we just wanted to try and come out and execute better. I thought we did that for three quarters. The second quarter was a blowout, but the girls fought through it, and anytime you can get a road win – it doesn't matter who it is – you're lucky to get out with a road win."

The Lady Eagles never trailed, but allowed Rogers State (5-12, 1-6) to close within one point in the third quarter. OC led 38-37 before Hayes hit two free throws at the 3:44 mark. She followed with two more at the 2:40 mark and a three-point play less than a minute later to give OC a 45-39 lead headed into the fourth quarter.

Parker, who had 18 points, took over from there, swishing three 3-pointers in a 3-minute span. The latter one pushed OC's lead to 58-47 with 5:38 left, and the Hillcats came no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Addy Clift delivered the final blow for OC, hitting her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 1:35 left to put the Lady Eagles up 64-54 and cap a 12-point performance. OC survived its 21 turnovers, in good part because the Hillcats had 23 of their own and shot 33.3 percent (22 of 66) from the field.

Parker "got hot from the 3-point line, so we called her number several times in a row," Findley said. "When Audrey got hot, we were trying to isolate her and Emma with what we felt like were mismatches … and Audrey was taking advantage of that by taking it to the goal and getting to the free-throw line."

It looked like a potential blowout early for OC, with Clift hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter and OC jumped to a 25-10 lead. But Courtney Smith answered with three of her own in the second quarter, fueling a rally by the Hillcats as OC went ice-cold from the field, going just 2-of-12. Consecutive baskets by Rachel Block in the final 46 seconds pulled Rogers State even at 31-31 at halftime.

"We got off to a really hot start," Findley said. "We had a great first quarter, and then I don't know what happened. The bottom fell out of it the second quarter. But I'm proud of the girls for hanging in there through that adverse second quarter. We just couldn't shoot. But they came out after halftime ready to execute some more and we were able to hang on."

Hayes, who scored 15 points, hit a 12-foot jumper to open the second half and Parker followed with a 3-pointer, helping keep the Hillcats at bay.

OC senior McKenzie Stanford, named earlier in the day as the Heartland Conference's player of the week, went 3-of-14 from the field but scored 12 points to raise her career total to 1,501, moving her past Jennifer Knight of St. Edward's (Texas) – who scored 1,500 points from 2002-06 – into seventh place on the league's career scoring list.

Natasha Kindred led Rogers State with 16 points while Block had 11, but that duo combined for 13 turnovers.

OC will return to action on Saturday, hosting defending NCAA Division II champion Lubbock Christian (Texas) at 1 p.m.

Stephanie Findley discusses the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3w3y-zy0c4&feature=em-upload_owner